Schools have always played an important role in modern society. They are a reflection of local values and changing educational and societal trends. The 21st century brings with it a multitude of challenges as we design schools and communities that embrace and engage learners in an era of global communication and unfettered knowledge exchange. This project explores the concept of a school-centred neighbourhood in response to these changes. Through a case study review of Grande Prairie’s Community Knowledge Campus, the study looks at the social influences of a multi-use school facility through the use of indicators of social capital, lifelong learning and learning-based community development. Interviews with school and municipal planners as well as facility users are used to explore the intended purpose of the development and to measure the effectiveness of this concept. The study concludes that multi-use school facilities have a measurable impact on the promotion of these social elements and thus contribute to the creation of a school-centred neighbourhood. Six recommendations are presented at the end of this study for use by school and municipal planners. These include: i) central locations and community linkages, ii) efficiencies and flexibility through multi-use school facilities, iii) the promotion of joint-use agreements, iv) coordinated school board capital planning and municipal land use planning, v) establishing a common planning language between schools and municipalities and vi) community planning and neighbourhood design through CKCs.

Research on organizational commitment in work settings is unclear about its generalization to broader environments; sense of place is typically measured to capture belonging and identification in communities. Whether the constructs of organizational commitment and sense of place are perceived distinctly by neighbourhood residents was investigated. Based on associations between natural design content and prosocial outcomes, it was hypothesized that individuals living in neighbourhoods with numerous green attributes would experience more organizational commitment to their community, as well as a stronger sense of place. Although participants did not perceive organizational commitment and sense of place distinctly, organizational commitment significantly correlated with the number of green features in a neighbourhood. However, sense of place and the degree of greenness in a neighbourhood were not related. This may be because these two constructs are closely related but not identical. Findings highlight the value of studying organizational commitment and sense of place when addressing neighbourhood research. / Graduate

In recent decades there has been a rekindling of academic interest in place, and with the way in which processes associated with modernity, globalisation and individualisation may have diminished place based communities, and weakened the attachment between individuals and the neighbourhoods in which they live. There are also debates about the importance of neighbourhood context, particularly whether neighbourhood level material deprivation and increased ethnic diversity act to reduce individual belonging to neighbourhoods and interactions between neighbours. This thesis aims to contribute towards an understanding of the ways in which individual belonging to neighbourhoods, and interaction with neighbours, may have changed over time, in relation to individual and neighbourhood context. Data from the British Household Panel Survey, for England, for the period 1998 to 2008, measuring the outcomes of individual level belonging to neighbourhoods and the likelihood of talking to neighbours, are combined with neighbourhood level Census data. Longitudinal models are used to test for age and cohort effects, and then extended to consider neighbourhood level context. Specific attention is given to the relationship between the outcomes under study and neighbourhood material deprivation, neighbourhood ethnic diversity, household income and individual mobility between neighbourhoods. Some evidence was found for cohort effects, with younger cohorts, particularly those in higher income households, being less likely to talk to neighbours. There were no apparent cohort effects for the outcome of belonging to the neighbourhood, which is found to be associated with age (generally increasing as individuals get older), and neighbourhood context. In materially deprived neighbourhoods levels of belonging are lower, but only for individuals in households with low incomes. Similarly any effect of individual mobility was found to be conditional on household income and neighbourhood level material deprivation. In general, high or increasing neighbourhood level ethnic diversity was not associated with reduced individual belonging to neighbourhoods or likelihood of talking to neighbours once other contextual variables were considered. Also, increased ethnic diversity had a small positive effect on the outcomes under study for individuals living in neighbourhoods with high levels of material deprivation.

Segregation is a common problem for many European states where mass housing areas, constructed between 1960 and 1980, now have fallen into decay and stigmatisation and face alienation from the rest of the city. The paper was aimed to investigate how city authorities could cope with downsides of segregation and, more specifically, unify segregated districts with the remainder of the city. This taken as a general idea, it was scrutinised on the examples of three cities, sharing similar characteristics, e.g. population and industrial past. The counter-segregation policies implemented (or planned to be implemented) in Gellerup (Arhus, Denmark), Rosengard (Malmo, Sweden) and Herzogenried (Mannheim, Germany) were studied and eventually compared. The presented findings were based on the analysis of official documents and empirical data gathered via interviews and are restricted by certain limitations which occurred due to the lack of time and resources.

In recent years urban violence has become understood as a 'reproduced', multi-causal and socially generated phenomenon. Less is understood about why young men reproduce the majority of this violence. This thesis uses original empirical data based on thirty-two life-histories of youths living in two poor and violent neighbourhoods in Medellín, Colombia. It argues that urban violence is reproduced by male youths because it is linked to 'masculinity'; that is, the process of 'becoming men' where youths strive to fulfil productive or 'successful' models of masculinity. These processes are related to contexts of poverty, inequality and exclusion, so this thesis does not reduce the generation of urban violence to masculinity alone. Rather, understanding masculinity provides us with further insight into the reproduction of violence. This thesis further argues that male youths are disposed by their habitus - after Pierre Bourdieu - to negotiate a pathway to manhood that largely reflects traditional masculine values in their context. Striving to achieve prevailing versions of manhood contributed to some of these youths joining armed groups, such as gangs. The gang acted as a mechanism to fulfil their dispositions to become men, by providing them with a way to perform a version of 'successful' masculinity. This is prevalent in urban contexts of exclusion and high levels of social violence, because there are limited opportunities to achieve legal and dignified versions of manhood, whilst there are significant opportunities to join the local gang. The youths interviewed that did not join gangs tended to come from families that taught them to reject violence at a young age, whilst supporting them in pursuing alternative pathways to manhood. Youths that joined gangs tended to have more problems at home and often had family members already in gangs.

Esta pesquisa propõe a aplicação de indicadores de sustentabilidade urbana em um conjunto habitacional, na cidade de Manaus/AM, a partir de princípios de desenvolvimento sustentável investigados em experiências bem sucedidas na Europa e no Brasil. Os exemplos pesquisados, denominados bairros sustentáveis, são iniciativas urbanísticas comprometidas com os indicadores de desenvolvimento sustentável que propõem um novo modelo de ocupação urbana. Este modelo prioriza o uso racional de recursos naturais, a utilização de materiais ecológicos, de fontes renováveis de energia, o controle de resíduos, a reutilização da água das chuvas, incentivos para o \'não uso de carros\' promovendo o pedestre, o ciclista e o transporte público com impactos na melhoria na qualidade de vida de seus moradores. Para tanto, a metodologia pauta-se em um corpus teórico das idéias que tem sido discutidas sobre a sustentabilidade em proposições que se apresentam com distintas adjetivações como: \"Desenvolvimento Sustentável\", \"Ecodesenvolvimento\", \"Sociedades Sustentáveis\", \"Comunidades Sustentáveis\", termos estes, abordados nos Acordos/Encontros Internacionais, configurando-se como um panorama histórico da questão ambiental e a cidade. Segue-se com as definições de indicadores, índices e princípios de sustentabilidade urbana e aescolha de cinco experiências apoiadas pelos critérios de representatividade do diferencial entre elas, pelo pioneirismo, pelo reconhecimento nos meios especializados e pelo potencial de difusão. Considerou-se também importante, a inclusão de experiências internacionais que se destacassem por seu grau de inovação, estruturação e consolidação. Esta soma de saberes específicos contribuiu para a formulação de um quadro-síntese dos indicadores de sustentabilidade urbana aplicáveis ao conjunto habitacional \'Parque Residencial Manaus\'. / This research proposes the application of urban sustainability indicators in a public housing in the city of Manaus, Amazonas, since the principles of sustainable development investigated in successful experiences in Europe and Brazil. The examples studied, called sustainable neighborhoods, are urban initiatives are committed to the sustainable development indicators which offer a new model of urban settlement. This model emphasizes the rational use of natural resources, the use of green materials, renewable sources of energy, waste control, reuse of rainwater, incentives for the \'non-use of cars\' promoting the pedestrian, the cyclist and public transportation to improve the quality of life for its residents. For this, the methodology is guided in a corpus of theoretical ideas that have been discussed on the sustainability of propositions that are presented with different adjectives such as \"Sustainable Development\", \"Ecodevelopment\", \"Sustainable Societies\", \"Sustainable Communities\", terms discussed in the Agreements / International Meetings, configuring it as a historical overview of environmental issues and the city. Then, it presents the definitions of indicators, indices and principles of urban sustainability and the choice of five experiments that were chosen using the representativeness criteria of the differential between them, the pioneering, recognition in specialist circles and the diffusion potential. It was also important to include international experiences that stood out for their musical innovation, restructuring and consolidation. This sum of specific knowledge contributed to formulate of a summary table of urban sustainability indicators that were applied to the public housing \'Parque Residencial Manaus\'.

Esta pesquisa propõe a aplicação de indicadores de sustentabilidade urbana em um conjunto habitacional, na cidade de Manaus/AM, a partir de princípios de desenvolvimento sustentável investigados em experiências bem sucedidas na Europa e no Brasil. Os exemplos pesquisados, denominados bairros sustentáveis, são iniciativas urbanísticas comprometidas com os indicadores de desenvolvimento sustentável que propõem um novo modelo de ocupação urbana. Este modelo prioriza o uso racional de recursos naturais, a utilização de materiais ecológicos, de fontes renováveis de energia, o controle de resíduos, a reutilização da água das chuvas, incentivos para o \'não uso de carros\' promovendo o pedestre, o ciclista e o transporte público com impactos na melhoria na qualidade de vida de seus moradores. Para tanto, a metodologia pauta-se em um corpus teórico das idéias que tem sido discutidas sobre a sustentabilidade em proposições que se apresentam com distintas adjetivações como: \"Desenvolvimento Sustentável\", \"Ecodesenvolvimento\", \"Sociedades Sustentáveis\", \"Comunidades Sustentáveis\", termos estes, abordados nos Acordos/Encontros Internacionais, configurando-se como um panorama histórico da questão ambiental e a cidade. Segue-se com as definições de indicadores, índices e princípios de sustentabilidade urbana e aescolha de cinco experiências apoiadas pelos critérios de representatividade do diferencial entre elas, pelo pioneirismo, pelo reconhecimento nos meios especializados e pelo potencial de difusão. Considerou-se também importante, a inclusão de experiências internacionais que se destacassem por seu grau de inovação, estruturação e consolidação. Esta soma de saberes específicos contribuiu para a formulação de um quadro-síntese dos indicadores de sustentabilidade urbana aplicáveis ao conjunto habitacional \'Parque Residencial Manaus\'. / This research proposes the application of urban sustainability indicators in a public housing in the city of Manaus, Amazonas, since the principles of sustainable development investigated in successful experiences in Europe and Brazil. The examples studied, called sustainable neighborhoods, are urban initiatives are committed to the sustainable development indicators which offer a new model of urban settlement. This model emphasizes the rational use of natural resources, the use of green materials, renewable sources of energy, waste control, reuse of rainwater, incentives for the \'non-use of cars\' promoting the pedestrian, the cyclist and public transportation to improve the quality of life for its residents. For this, the methodology is guided in a corpus of theoretical ideas that have been discussed on the sustainability of propositions that are presented with different adjectives such as \"Sustainable Development\", \"Ecodevelopment\", \"Sustainable Societies\", \"Sustainable Communities\", terms discussed in the Agreements / International Meetings, configuring it as a historical overview of environmental issues and the city. Then, it presents the definitions of indicators, indices and principles of urban sustainability and the choice of five experiments that were chosen using the representativeness criteria of the differential between them, the pioneering, recognition in specialist circles and the diffusion potential. It was also important to include international experiences that stood out for their musical innovation, restructuring and consolidation. This sum of specific knowledge contributed to formulate of a summary table of urban sustainability indicators that were applied to the public housing \'Parque Residencial Manaus\'.

This research examines energy poverty in the Daniel McIntyre and St. Matthews (DMSM) neighbourhoods in the city of Winnipeg. Energy poverty, defined as households spending more than 6% of their income on energy expenditures, affects as many as 50% of households in DMSM. Energy poverty can be alleviated through energy retrofits for dwellings such as weather stripping; increasing insulation in exterior walls, the attic and basement; and installing a high-efficiency furnace. The recommendations include: establishing consistent housing and energy efficiency policies; increasing the flexibility of utility on-bill financing; levying the necessary capital for energy retrofits through municipal financing mechanisms; increasing the knowledge and capacity of local residents; increasing the knowledge and capacity of local contractors for sustainable design and construction; creating a provincial strategy to increase the energy efficiency of social housing; developing low-income energy efficiency programs for rental properties; and increasing access to renewable energy sources.

This research examines energy poverty in the Daniel McIntyre and St. Matthews (DMSM) neighbourhoods in the city of Winnipeg. Energy poverty, defined as households spending more than 6% of their income on energy expenditures, affects as many as 50% of households in DMSM. Energy poverty can be alleviated through energy retrofits for dwellings such as weather stripping; increasing insulation in exterior walls, the attic and basement; and installing a high-efficiency furnace. The recommendations include: establishing consistent housing and energy efficiency policies; increasing the flexibility of utility on-bill financing; levying the necessary capital for energy retrofits through municipal financing mechanisms; increasing the knowledge and capacity of local residents; increasing the knowledge and capacity of local contractors for sustainable design and construction; creating a provincial strategy to increase the energy efficiency of social housing; developing low-income energy efficiency programs for rental properties; and increasing access to renewable energy sources.

This dissertation adopts a quantitative approach to investigate the determinants of residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood crime, focusing specifically on a series of structural factors at the community level, in accordance with the social disorganisation model. Using different statistical models, including correlations, linear regression, multilevel models and spatial regression analyses, and several Spanish data sources, in particular the 2001 Population and Housing Census and a nationally representative survey conducted in 2006, the research confirms the relevance of its exogenous sources in explaining perceived neighbourhood crime. These include classical variables, such as neighbourhoods’ socioeconomic status, residential stability, ethnic diversity, family disruption and degree of urbanisation, but also other features related to the time, skills and resources deployed by residents in their residential areas such as commuting time to work, the number of working hours and the availability of a second home. For its part, other local conditions traditionally associated specifically with perceived neighbourhood crime, such as social incivilities and physical decay, act as mediators of other contextual effects, in particular of the number of retail shops and offices. The research also demonstrates the urban nature of the social disorganisation theory. That is, that the local conditions typically associated with social disorganisation, urban unease and the various social problems that can affect neighbourhoods, are better predictors of residents’ perceptions of crime in town and large cities than in rural areas, operationalized as municipalities of less than 5,000 inhabitants. Small municipalities seem particularly successful in controlling their younger residents for neither the proportion of adolescents and young adults, nor the number of children per family exert an important effect on residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood crime. Among these local conditions, special attention has been devoted to measures of diversity and immigration demonstrating that their effect on residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood crime, except for the positive impact of Asians, is not necessarily robust to different model specifications and statistical methods. This erratic immigrant effect is surprising given how consistent the belief in a crime-immigration nexus is among Spaniards. Precisely on this point, the dissertation has investigated why the belief in a crime-immigration nexus varies significantly between individuals and across communities. Three variables have been identified as determining factors: contextual parochialism, right-wing ideology and the media. In rural areas with high residential stability, a significant presence of elderly population and a low socioeconomic status, residents are more likely to unconsciously associate immigration and crime, even when individual attributes are adjusted for and, more importantly, even if few migrants live in the surroundings. Not surprisingly, right-wing residents are more likely to associate both phenomena yet, in contrast to many statements by scholars and pundits, the media in Spain seems to exert a moderator effect.